 is a very special situation for us. So we want to say welcome to the non-profit show. Fundraising Academy is with us for the whole week, each and every day. And we are super excited about this because we're going to be talking about something really unique. And that's going to be all about major gifts. We've got two experts on from Fundraising Academy, Pearl Hoagland, wave to us, Pearl. And we have Jack Delotto, who a lot of you will have seen. We've had him on before and when we get stuck with something, we're always going, what would Jack do? Go back to Jack. So we're excited to have the two of you here talking about this. Again, this is a dedicated week, which is super exciting. And here's the little bit of a hint. You can get to us on our archives if you missed something. And in some cases, I might decide to run a little bit over because there's so much to talk about. And I'll give you warning about that. Again, we want to thank all of our presenting sponsors without you. We would not be here having these amazing conversations. These folks are with us day in and day out. So thank you very much to them. Okay, I'm Julia Patrick, CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy. My sidekick, Jared Ransom, is not with us today, but she'll be back here tomorrow. But the two most important people are here today, Pearl Hoagland and Jack Delotto. Welcome. Thank you so much for having us. Yes. Thank you for having us. Well, we're super excited because we're talking about major gifts, but the reality is we don't always agree on what that means, what that amount is. And so I'm really excited to have you share with us so much. I got to ask you, what is a major gift in the nonprofit world? No, it's such a good question because really a major gift, it means something different to every organization, depending on their size, their capacity, the staff size, their cause area, but essentially a major gift is the largest donation that a nonprofit receives from individual donors. We are going to dive in to how to calculate that and really define that for your organization. But I just want to add to that with the students that come through Fundraising Academy, often major gifts is so intimidating. You think that you have to have this full program, right? The money to back it. But that's really truly what we hope everyone leaves our sessions feeling that they can, no matter what their capacity is, staff size that they can incorporate a major gift strategy at their organization. So hopefully, over the next 30 minutes, we'll show you that. We'll prove that. Okay. First and foremost, I love that because you're right, Pearl. A lot of times there's just such a heavy lift to get through to structuring something and it becomes very intimidating. So amazing. And I love that you've kind of given us this parameter because it sounds to me like this is a moving target. Yeah. I mean, Jack, what do you see on that? So first off, I want to say I'm so grateful that Pearl has joined me, my colleague from the Fundraising Academy. This is exciting. It's our first duo together. So definitely I'm happy to be here. For me, I think the operative word with major gift is it has to be a significant, significant gift to your organization. Now, sometimes that significant gift may be $250 or it could be $25,000. So the thing about major gifts is that it has to be a meaningful and most importantly, significant gift. And I think when we say significant gift, guys, we're talking about the impact that that gift makes. Okay. So then let me push back a little bit on that because when I hear you say that, I hear you saying that on behalf of the nonprofit and maybe not the donor. Is that so that's true? I mean, well, I think I think that the nonprofit defines the amount of a major gift, but that is not the part that is the most important. And I think we're going to review what is the most important going forward. Okay, so so let's talk about that because to your point, Jack, it's not it's not a specific. And I love that you all have come up with some traits that will help define help us define what this actually looks like. So first and foremost, donor gives to satisfy their needs. Talk about that. Go ahead, Jack. So needs. So first of all, whether it's a major gift or a smaller gift or an annual gift, it's always about the donor's needs. I mean, this is one of the tenants of the cause selling fundraising cycle that we talk about. It's always about their needs. Now, their needs are going to be different. Their motivations are going to be different. Their interest is going to be different. So it's always very donor centric. I love it. First trade. So Pearl, when we're looking for the donors looking for a trusted partner, what does that mean? Yeah, I love that because especially when you look at major gift donors, they're giving at a higher level. And they're giving it, this actually ties a little bit to number four, giving through an organization, not to that they are looking, they trust the organization at this point, they know that you are ethical and have integrity and using the funds to truly have impact that basically you've already proven yourself. So they're looking for a partner in giving it in a way it changes the power level that you're a partner now in having impact together, bringing in different resources. There's the financial resources and then the work to actually create this impact. Right. And so you're talking about impact, Jack, that it seems to me like a somewhat of a newer concept in like the last 10 or 20 years. We didn't really talk about that before. That is so true. I think that, you know, point number two, the partnering which Pearl just spoke about and impact, we're seeing those two married. And we're especially seeing it now, as you mentioned, Julie, in the last 10 years with the growth of venture philanthropy. We're very wealthy individuals, very wealthy corporations, partnerships, et cetera, want to see more of that partnership where they're involved in your organization in many different ways, besides just giving money. But they also, what is really important, they want to see that partnership, but they want to see the impact of their giving. Yeah, I think it's, I think it has really been an exciting thing to witness. And I think it is taxing a lot of nonprofits and somewhat freaking them out because they haven't been called to task on this. And so that kind of goes to number four, which you talked briefly about this, Pearl, want to give through an organization and not to talk to us and explain that a little bit, Pearl. Yeah, and so it's really, it's that the the organization in my mind, it makes it less transactional. And again, it goes back to that impact that you are, and that that partnership that your funds are directly tied to the impact that you want to have, and the organization is facilitating that they're making that happen because they are the experts, they are the ones who know how to have this impact. They're doing the work day in day out. So that's, that's where it's going. And so it feels that your funds are really directly tied and that impact goes straight back to that social return on investment. So then when you talk about Jack that they're facilitating the process, when I saw this, my first thought was that these donors and these major gift participants and investors, if you will, they're expecting the nonprofit to be the expert. Yes, especially around social services, causes, things like that. You know, when we say that this point again goes back to being very donor centric, we have to make it easy by facilitating this process of accepting their gift and acknowledging them in the way they wish to be acknowledged and then showing them the impact of that gift. That whole process is extremely donor centric and very seamless. It has to be seamless to the donor. I love that. And I think before we move on to actually some formulas that you all have created, donors want to be heard and involved. This is a dicey thing because I think a lot of nonprofits don't want that. I mean, if we're really honest, they're kind of like, yeah, we want your money, but we don't really need you to be involved. How do we understand that and get to that point? That's a good one. And one thing I would say is we talk about the cause selling cycle, which is the relationship driven fundraising cycle. And as part of that cycle, as you're cultivating that relationship with the donor, you're learning from them. What does that mean to them? Because that will mean something different. Some donors don't actually want to be involved. Some do and some want to be involved at deeper levels. I would also say the fundraiser's role is ensuring that what that looks like is appropriate for both the donor and the organization so that the organization can have their impact. And they provide opportunities to the donor to be involved in a way that supports that impact and supports the organization and then supports the donor's goals and makes them feel truly valued. So heard, again, and involved means something completely different. And really, it's your job as the fundraiser to know what that means and then make sure that it's reasonable for all parties involved. I love that you're saying that because engagement means different things at different times. And so before we move on, Jack, talking about that engaged in the partnership to Pearl's point, this is like heavy lifting that's done up front. Is that what I'm hearing? Yes. You know, you used a word, well, there are a lot of great words in this when we go through this. But Julia, you just used a word which is so elegant to me, and that is the investor, the donor as the investor. And they are the investor in this partnership. We are the implementers. We are the ones that are carrying out what they want to see us do. They invest with us. And Pearl said earlier, this is not a transactional arrangement. Right. I love that. They are investing in us, and they are counting on us to follow through and do what we say we are going to do with their gift. Yeah. I love that. Okay. So we've talked about these traits, and we understand that it is, for me, when I have this conversation with you, I realize it's defined, but it does have some evolution. And it has some nuance, depending on who that philanthropic partner is, what they see, what they're willing to do, and how that relationship goes. But the reality is, we need to be talking about what is a major gift in terms of budgeting and strategy. And so you all have some really interesting formulas, if you will. And you have two different ones. Let's talk about this, because you have created something called the donor pyramid. Major donors are at the top, and then we go down. Let's kind of explain that, because you're saying your major donors should be the top five to 10 largest donors. Is that right? Okay, Pearl, go ahead and explain that to me. No, that is right. So I have to pull this number up. I believe it's 88 percent. Studies show that 88 percent of all charitable giving comes from 12 percent of donors. So again, that demonstrates that major gifts are so important for your organization's sustainability. And then looking at this pyramid, the goal is to move folks up the pyramid. So at the bottom, you have those, those who have given to your organization, not consistently, perhaps at an event, or they saw, you know, they received a mailing and they gave a gift. In the middle, it's those that you can count on for a gift year after year. They might not be at the major gifts level, but they're someone that you can count on. So now you've proven to them that there's someone that, that they want to support, you're someone they want to support. And at this point, how do you cultivate and steward them to hopefully move them, continue to move them up the pyramid to that major donor tip right there? Yeah. Okay, I gotta ask Jack, it seems to me, like this is a low number. Like it seems to me that it should be, you know, 30, 40. And so can you walk me through that mentality? Yeah. So, so what Pearl is talking about, that 80 percent of all the money comes from 20 percent of all the gifts received is really been tested over and over and over again. And we talk about it in the cost selling cycle, which is the Pareto principle. And it's true, not only for gifts, but it's true that 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the work on your board, 20 percent of the board members are going to do 80 percent of the work of your organization. What I think is so beautiful and elegant about this donor pyramid, and I'm going to reiterate some of the things that that Pearl just said, our goal as fundraisers is to cultivate, motivate and move the people at the lower end of the pyramid to the higher giving levels. That's one of the most important things about this tool that we've provided here that we're showing in front of you. And there are lots of donor pyramids. This is just not the only one. So it's really important that we understand what this is, why we use it, and how to use it. Cultivation and stewardship are how we use this to move people to higher giving levels. Yeah. I think when you put it that way, then it makes it more, it's a flow versus just saying, oh, these are your top folks that you just want to work with. Because if you look at it that way, then you're really that foundational part of the of the pyramid, you're letting go. And that's completely the wrong way to go. Right. You know, one of the things that I think we get asked all the time in the fundraising academy is, why do we do annual giving campaigns? And there are three really important reasons and they fit in with this donor pyramid. If you look at that big part of the bottom of the donor pyramid, that's where the annual giving takes place. And we really do these annual giving campaigns for three reasons. One to acquire donors, two to retain donors, but three and which fits right into this pyramid is to determine that some of those annual donors should be moving up the pyramid to major gift status. I love it. I love it. And I think what it, to me, before we go on, it makes it look like we're not leaving anyone behind, that we're segmenting, but yet we're inclusive to to the journey that that donor investor is going to take. So now I want to get to this next piece because I'm like super goal oriented. You know, we talk about this on an on profit show. I always have my lists and I have my goals and I get really depressed if I don't meet them, but I don't always understand why I don't meet them. And I looked at this and I'm like, wow, okay, you're helping us to figure out how we go about this because we don't, you know, we can't just be, yeah, we want major gifts. We've got to have a plan. So talk to us about this a little bit, Pearl, to help us understand the overall concept of the gift chart tool. Absolutely. So we clearly love our pyramids. So you do want to look at this also as a pyramid, but this planning tool will help you determine how many gifts and how many prospects you will need to meet a fundraising goal. This can be for capital campaigns, perhaps your annual major gift strategy. But it's a really great tool to help you plan out not only what you need and how many donors you need at each giving level, but then also how many prospects will you need at each giving level knowing not everyone's going to say yes. Right. And it looks like you've got about, you know, in some cases, 25 to 50 percent is your is your rule. Is that correct? Yes. And noting that the the level at the bottom you will have, you'll see it's double because of that, because also it's a little more attainable. So yeah, about 25 to 50 percent, depending on the level. Wow. Okay. And do you feel like this is, you know, I know we talk about the nine major sectors in the nonprofit world. This works everything from animal welfare to culture to medical. I mean, yeah. Oh yeah. And I think as Pearl mentioned earlier, this is, again, another important tool that we use for capital campaigns, major gift campaigns. If we're trying to build an endowment, we create this gift chart here, and then we use it. We work it. It's a planning tool. And you know, in our profession, guys, we need as much help with tools as we can get. And I, you know, fundraising is becoming way more routineized with great tools out there. This is, again, a great tool. And when we use this tool, with that pyramid that we saw in the last slide, we will be more successful at getting those major gifts. And is that the sort of thing because it allows you to measure, but also to remind, like measure and remind, measure and is that, is that what you're thinking here, Jack? Yeah, and I'm also looking at this as an accountability tool, you know, with the prospects, the number of prospects we need at each giving level. If I were planning a capital campaign, and I said I am going to do a gift chart, and I couldn't come up with the number of prospects I need, I may have to reconsider the goal of that capital campaign or that major gift campaign, based on what I'm seeing that I'm creating on this chart. What a beautiful way to help us be decision makers, right? You know, I'd love to add too, that this is a great prospecting tool. So you want to update this as you're, you're moving through your strategy, and you can bring this to your prospect meetings and show them, here's where we are. Yeah. We want to go and help them visualize what level they might want to be on perhaps a higher level than originally anticipated. Wow, okay, that's like super bold, because I, I got to say, Pearl, I would never have thought of that, but yet if I think about sitting on the other side of the desk, I like the idea of knowing that the organization I'm going to invest in is thinking about this, and that they have a plan. So, holy cow, okay, that's just like, that's a hair on fire moment for me today. If I get a hair on fire, it would only be one hair. That might be just a little, a little shocking, Jack. I'm not, I'm not saying anything more than that. Okay. So really quickly, and I want to go back to this, this chart, because I, I just had another question that, again, hair on fire, because I hadn't thought of it this way. Would you advise in the process that you create these levels for the different things? I mean, Jack, you brought up a capital campaign, but would you say that this is the sort of thing that we should be doing when we're looking at the different aspects of our organizations and the, and the different fundraising opportunities we have? I mean, I'm thinking like even down to, a gala or a, you know. Yeah. Listen, if you could use it for any campaign, special events campaigns, capital campaigns, endowment campaigns, any, or, you know, if you have a plan giving campaign with a goal each year, you could create the same gift chart with prospects, number of people at each giving level, depending on what the plan gift is, a big quest, whatever it is to reach that goal. If you say I'm going to raise $10 million for a capital campaign, then this chart is going to be bigger than this million dollar campaign, which is outlined here. Yeah. Okay. I really like this. And I'm thinking that it is, it's really a powerful, powerful thing. And I'm going to go ahead and go out on a limb here. We'll go ahead and take this slide and we will turn it into a graphic. Any of you watching this episode on our archive or live, and if you want to get these two forms, the one that we had, the formulas, the pyramid and this email me, my information's at the end of this program. We'll go over that. And then I'll go ahead and send that to you so you can take it back to your team because I think this is really an awesome, awesome thing. Jack and Pearl, I'll go ahead and send this same artwork to you as well. So if somebody reaches out to you and not me, you'll have it because I think that's just an awesome, awesome tool. Wow. I don't know about you, but I got a lot out of day one and we're doing this for five days. I think you two just raised the bar. No pressure. And our job here is done. Well, listen, sister, not really because we have a lot to talk about during this week. I mean, we started this Monday, we're determining what a major gift is. We're going to talk about the major gift fundraising cycle. You know, if you've been with us for any period of time, we do, we really, really champion the cause selling cycle. And so this is going to be interesting to see how these two pieces work together. We're also going to be talking about prospecting major gifts. It's not just, I wish we had this, it's an actual actionable plan and strategy. So we're going to talk about that. And then we're going to talk about what do you do to steward those relationships so that once you have created that relationship with your philanthropic donor or investor, you have the ability to navigate that so that everybody's happy. And then on Friday, we're going to have our ask and answer with Tony Bell coming up. And that most of those questions, they'll be related to what we've talked about this week. So that'll be really a great way to gather with us and to really explore some of your questions. Because for some of us, these are new ideas. I already witnessed to you, I had a hair on fire moment already, and it's only Monday. So, oh my gosh, that's like really a powerful, powerful thing. Pearl Hovland, you are a treasure. We don't get to see you on camera enough, but we're going to twist your arm and get you back on. Pearl's the senior program manager for Fundraising Academy, National University's amazing program that helps our sector tremendously. Jack Alotto is CFRE, and we've actually had Jack on to talk about the relationship to CFRE, the Certified Fundraising Executive and Program, and it's a professional designation. And we've had Jack on as an expert from Fundraising Academy, and we'll continue to have you back on. You're in the hot seat a couple more times this week, Jack. So be ready. Be ready. It's going to be a lot of fun. Again, if you've missed any of these episodes, we will have them on our archive, Fundraising Academy, we'll have them on their archive as well. This might be a type of program that you share with your team. You get like a group viewing or something like that so that you can all, all of you who are involved in major gifts can kind of watch this discussion, stop and start. Again, if you want those two forms, you can reach out to any of us and we will get you those so that you can then print them off or share them digitally with your team, because I think they're really powerful tools. So super cool. Again, I'm Julia Patrick. Here's my information. Go ahead and reach out to me and we'll get you those documents so that you can see this and share this with your teams. Oh my gosh, our presenting sponsors, thank you for being a part of this conversation because this is what helps build the strong nonprofit sector that we have. And without our sponsors, we wouldn't be having these conversations. Okay, Pearl and Jack, I love all the things that you talked about. And I know this is like a hot seat question. If you're an organization and you're looking at this whole major gift piece, is this something that is really only for the more developed, more mature organizations, or should we be like at the gate, really putting this into our brains? And so Jack, I'll have you go first. Yeah, so why you put me on the hot seat, Pearl said at Pearl. Okay, great. So I think any comprehensive development plan must include major gift initiative. And as I said early on, if it's $250 as your major gift, do it, go for it. That's how you're going to build your organization. I love that. I love that you said that. I think that's a great way to end up. I mean, Pearl, no pressure. I mean, what do you think? Yeah, pressure's on. Never follow Jack. No, I agree. I think again, if the term major gift is scary, it's a transformational meaningful gift for your organization. So just start there. What is meaningful to your organization? Look at your database. Do you have, you might already have donors that are somewhat cultivated that you could just lean into. So I would say there are ways to start that are easy and low hanging fruit that you can really, really lean into. So just don't be scared by the term. There are ways for any organization to dive into this at any level, any budget, any staff size. Yeah. Okay. And before we go, a question has just come in. And I think it's a really interesting question. Should you tell your donor that they are a major gift donor? I saw I'm a transparency guy. Transparency is one of the key, key, key ethics and accountability things that we do. If a donor asked me, you know, am I a major donor? I'd answer it. And as I think when we get into later in this week, guys, when we're talking about asking major donors for gifts, we can say exactly what Pearl said earlier, your gift is a transformational gift for our organization. That's why we're asking you. I think the thing of with asking for major gifts, if this would help in answering that question is that we tell them that this gift is really important to our organizations cause in advancing our mission. And let them know that we are only asking a small group as that 20% we talked about earlier for these transformational gifts. This is a special place to be in major gifts. So that's powerful because you know what? I don't know if I would have answered that that way. I don't know if I would have intuitively done this. So that's cool. I'm going to have to really think about this because I think it's, yes, the ethics of it undoubtedly, but how does that donor feel? I want to explore that a little bit. We have a viewer that just wrote in again and said, please share your email address again. I'll share mine jcp at americannonprofitacademy.com. It's a long one. And go ahead and send me any requests and we'll get that artwork back to you so that you and your team can have it. I have visions of people taking this artwork and blowing it up and putting it on their bulletin boards in the coffee room for when we're all back together again. So yeah, jcp at americannonprofitacademy.com. Wow, a great way to start out the week. Thank you. Thank you, Jack and Pearl. Thank you so much for having us. Yes, thank you. It's been a lot of fun. We're going to see you back here tomorrow everyone. We have a full week. Again, this is a really interesting piece of our commitment to education. It is a dedicated week just to one topic and this topic is we're partnering with Fundraising Academy. It's all about major gifts. And so one week of that, bring your team in. You can have a viewing party or you can find us on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Daily Motion, Vimeo and of course YouTube. Hey everybody, as we like to end every episode, we want to remind you stay well so you can do well.